How India's smartphone revolution is creating a new generation of readers and writers | Chiki Sarkar

Translator: Christine Deyani Reviewer: Maria Nainggolan

Look all around you.

Lihatlah di sekitar Anda.

Whether you're in a subway, a park, an airport, a restaurant,

Saat di kereta bawah tanah, di taman, di bandara, di restoran,

even at this conference,

bahkan di konferensi ini,

all of you have a phone in your hands or maybe in your pockets.

Anda semua punya telepon di tangan atau mungkin di kantong Anda.

How many of you have a book?

Ada berapa yang punya buku?

Very few, right?

Sedikit, kan?

This is the sight that used to greet me

Inilah pemandangan yang saya lihat

every time I walked out of my office block.

setiap kali berjalan dari daerah perkantoran.

I was surrounded by a sea of 20-something professionals

Saya dikelilingi lautan profesional usia 20-an

glued to their phones.

melekat dengan telepon mereka.

And not a single one had a book in their hands.

Tak ada satu pun yang memegang buku.

And this used to make me very, very frustrated.

Dulu, ini amat sangat menyebalkan buat saya.

I was a bookworm all my life.

Saya kutu buku sejak dahulu.

Books formed the milestones of my life.

Buku membentuk tahapan hidup saya.

The first man I fell in love with was Mr. Darcy.

Pria pertama yang saya jatuh cinta adalah Mr. Darcy.

I first read "Harry Potter" when I was 21, on a summer break from college.

Pertama membaca Harry Potter saya 21 tahun, di libur musim panas kuliah.

And I remember the first night I spent in a little flat I bought in my mid-20s,

Saya ingat malam pertama di apartemen yang saya beli di usia 20-an,

very proudly,

dengan bangganya,

and I spent the whole night reading "The Da Vinci Code."

dan saya menghabiskan semalaman membaca The Da Vinci Code.

And then I'm going to make a terrible confession:

Dan saya akan membuat suatu pengakuan yang buruk:

even today, when I'm low, I get into bed with "War and Peace."

bahkan sampai sekarang saat sedih, saya membaca War and Peace sebelum tidur.

Don't laugh.

Jangan tertawa.

(Laughter)

(Tawa)

But I was also like all those people I saw around me:

Tapi saya juga seperti layaknya semua orang di sekitar saya:

I, too, lived on my phone.

saya juga hidup dalam telepon saya.

I ordered my groceries online,

Saya belanja bulanan online,

and soon my app knew that I needed a monthly dose of diapers.

dan aplikasi saya langsung tahu saya butuh persediaan popok sebulan.

I booked my cinemas on my phone.

Saya memesan tiket nonton di telepon saya.

I booked planes on my phone.

Saya memesan tiket pesawat di telepon saya.

And when I did the long commute back home like most urban Indians,

Saat saya pulang naik kendaraan umum seperti umumnya masyarakat kota di India,

and was stuck in traffic,

dan terjebak kemacetan,

I passed the time on WhatsApp, video-chatting my twin.

saya menghabiskan di WhatsApp, video chatting dengan kembaran saya.

I was part of an extraordinary revolution that was happening in India.

Saya adalah bagian dari revolusi dahsyat yang terjadi di India.

Indians are the second-largest users of smartphones in the world.

India adalah pengguna telepon pintar terbesar kedua di dunia.

And data prices have been slashed so radically

Dan harga paket data telah turun drastis

that half of urban India and even a part of rural India

sehingga separuh masyarakan kota di India dan bahkan sebagian warga pinggiran

now have a smartphone with a data connection in their hands.

saat ini punya telepon pintar dengan koneksi data di tangan mereka.

And if you know anything about India,

Dan jika Anda tahu tentang India,

you'll know that "half" means, like, all of America or something.

Anda tahu bahwa "separuh" berarti, seperti kira-kira seluruh Amerika.

You know, it's large numbers.

Anda tahu, jumlahnya besar.

(Laughter)

(Tawa)

And these numbers are just growing and growing and growing.

Dan angka ini terus meningkat.

They're exploding.

Meledak.

And what they're doing is empowering Indians

Dan mereka memberdayakan orang India

in all kinds of extraordinary ways.

dengan berbagai cara yang luar biasa.

And yet, none of these changes that I was seeing around me

Akan tetapi, tak ada satu pun perubahan yang ada di sekitar saya ini

were reflected in my world, my world of books.

terlihat di dunia saya, dunia pustaka saya.

I live in a country the size of Europe,

Saya hidup di suatu negara seukuran Eropa,

and it only has 50 decent bookshops.

dan di sana hanya ada 50 toko buku yang layak.

And Indians just didn't seem to want to read for fun.

Dan orang India sepertinya tidak ingin membaca untuk kesenangan.

So if you look at all the best-seller lists in India,

Jika Anda melihat semua daftar buku terbaik di India,

what you'll always find in the best-seller list

yang akan Anda temukan dalam daftar buku terbaik

is exam and professional guides.

adalah panduan ujian dan profesional.

Imagine if you found the SAT guides as the "New York Times" number one seller,

Bayangkan Anda temukan panduan SAT di penjualan nomor satu di New York Times,

month after month.

berbulan-bulan.

And yet, the smartphone revolution was creating readers and writers

Namun, revolusi smartphone sedang menciptakan pembaca dan penulis

of a different kind.

dari jenis yang berbeda.

Whether it was on Facebook or WhatsApp,

Apakah itu di Facebook atau WhatsApp,

Indians were writing and sharing and reading all kinds of things:

Orang India menulis, membaca dan berbagi segala macam hal:

terrible jokes, spurious pop history,

lelucon mengerikan, sejarah pop palsu,

long, emotional confessions,

panjang, pengakuan emosional,

diatribes against the government.

kecaman terhadap pemerintah.

And as I read and shared these things, I wondered to myself,

Ketika saya baca dan membaginya, Saya bertanya pada diri sendiri,

"Could I get these writers and these readers,

"Bisakah saya mendapatkan penulis ini dan para pembaca ini,

could I turn them into my readers?"

dapatkah saya mengubahnya menjadi pembaca? "

And so I left my plush corner office

Maka saya meninggalkan kantor saya

and my job as the publisher of India's top publishing company,

dan pekerjaan saya sebagai penerbit perusahaan penerbitan top India,

and I set up on my own.

dan saya mengatur sendiri.

I moved into a single large room in a cheap bohemian district of Delhi,

Saya pindah ke satu kamar besar di distrik bohemian murah di Delhi,

with a small team.

dengan tim kecil

And there, I set up a new kind of publishing house.

Dan di sana, saya mengatur jenis penerbitan baru.

A new kind of publishing house needs a new kind of reader

Jenis penerbitan baru membutuhkan pembaca jenis baru

and a new kind of book.

dan jenis buku baru.

And so I asked myself, "What would this new reader want?

Saya bertanya-tanya "Apa yang diinginkan oleh pembaca baru?

Would they prize urgency, relevance,

Apakah mereka menghargai urgensi, relevansi,

timeliness, directness --

ketepatan waktu, keterusterangan -

the very qualities they seem to want from their online services,

sifat-sifat yang mereka inginkan dari layanan online,

indeed, the qualities they seem to want from life today?"

memang, kualitas mereka tampak inginkan dari kehidupan hari ini? "

I knew that my readers were always on the go.

Saya tahu pembaca saya selalu maju.

I'd have to fit into their lifestyle and schedules.

Saya harus mengikuti gaya hidup dan jadwal mereka.

Would they actually want to read a 200-page book?

Apakah mereka benar-benar ingin membaca buku 200 halaman?

Or would they want something a little bit more digestible?

Apakah mereka menginginkan sesuatu sedikit lebih mudah dicerna?

Indians are incredibly value-conscious,

Orang India sangat sadar akan nilai,

especially when it comes to their online reading.

terutama ketika itu datang untuk membaca online mereka.

I knew I had to give them books under a dollar.

Saya tahu saya harus memberi mereka buku di bawah satu dolar.

And so my company was formed, and it was born.

Dan perusahaan saya dibentuk, dan itu lahir.

It was a platform where we created a list of stories designed for the smartphone,

Itu adalah platform tempat membuat daftar cerita yang dirancang untuk smartphone,

but it also allowed amateur writers to upload their own stories,

tetapi juga memungkinkan penulis amatir untuk mengunggah cerita mereka sendiri,

so they could be showcased along with the very writers

mereka bisa memamerkannya bersama dengan para penulis

they read and admired.

mereka membaca dan mengagumi.

And we could also enter into other people's digital platforms.

Dan kita juga bisa masuk platform digital orang lain.

So, imagine this:

Jadi, bayangkan ini:

imagine you're a receptionist, you've had a long day at work,

Anda seorang resepsionis, berada di tempat kerja sepanjang hari,

you book your cab in your ride-hailing app,

Anda memesan taksi di aplikasi smarphone Anda,

it shows up,

itu muncul,

and you get into your car, and you lie back on your seat,

Anda masuk ke mobil, dan Anda berbaring di kursi Anda,

and you put on your app.

dan Anda memakai aplikasi Anda.

And you find a set of stories waiting for you, timed to your journey.

Anda menemukan serangkaian cerita, pada waktu perjalanan Anda.

Imagine you're a gay young woman,

Bayangkan Anda seorang wanita muda gay,

in a relatively conservative city like Lucknow, which lies near Delhi.

di kota yang relatif konservatif seperti Lucknow di dekat Delhi.

There's no way your parents know about your sexuality.

Tidak mungkin orang tuamu tahu tentang seksualitas Anda.

They'd completely freak out.

Mereka benar-benar ketakutan.

Would you like lesbian love stories written in Hindi, priced under a dollar,

Apakah Anda ingin kisah cinta ini dalam bahasa Hindi, seharga satu dolar,

to be read in the privacy of your phone?

untuk dibaca dalam privasi ponsel Anda?

And could I match readers

Dan bisakah saya mencocokkan pembaca

to the events that were taking place around them in real time?

ke acara yang sedang berlangsung di sekitar mereka di waktu yang sama?

So we published biographies of very famous politicians

Jadi kami menerbitkan biografi politisi yang sangat terkenal

after they won big elections.

setelah memenangkan pemilihan besar.

When the supreme court decriminalized homosexuality,

Saat mahkamah agung homoseksualitas yang didekriminalisasi,

an LGBTQ collection was waiting on our home page.

koleksi LGBTQ sedang menunggu di halaman rumah.

And when India's Toni Morrison, the great writer Mahasweta Devi died,

Dan ketika Toni Morrison India, penulis agung Mahasweta Devi meninggal,

our readers found a short story by her as soon as news hit.

pembaca kami menemukan sebuah cerita pendek setelah berita muncul.

The idea was to be relevant to every moment of a reader's life.

Idenya adalah untuk menjadi relevan untuk setiap momen kehidupan pembaca.

Who are our readers?

Siapakah pembaca kita?

They're mostly young men under the age of 30.

Mereka kebanyakan pria muda di bawah usia 30.

There's someone like Salil,

Ada seseorang seperti Salil,

who lives in a city where there isn't a modern bookshop.

yang tinggal di kota tempat yang tidak ada toko buku modern.

And he comes to our app almost every day.

Dan dia datang ke aplikasi kita hampir setiap hari.

There's someone like Manoj,

Ada seseorang seperti Manoj,

who mostly reads us during the long commute back home.

yang kebanyakan membaca selama perjalanan panjang kembali ke rumah.

And there's someone like Ahmed, who loves our nonfiction

Dan ada seseorang seperti Ahmed, yang menyukai nonfiksi kami

that he can read in a single sitting, and that's priced very low.

yang bisa dia baca dalam sekali duduk, dengan harga sangat rendah.

Imagine if you're like a young, techie boy

Bayangkan jika Anda seperti bocah laki-laki teknisi

in India's Silicon Valley city of Bangalore.

di Lembah Silikon India kota Bangalore.

And one day, you get an in-app notification

Dan suatu hari, Anda dapat pemberitahuan di aplikasi

and it says that your favorite actress has written a sexy short story

yang mengatakan aktris favorit Anda telah menulis cerita pendek

and it's waiting for you.

dan sedang menunggu Anda.

That's how we launched Juggernaut.

Itulah cara kami meluncurkan Juggernaut.

We got a very famous ex-adult star, called Sunny Leone.

Kami punya mantan bintang yang sangat terkenal, Sunny Leone.

She's India's most Googled person, as it happens.

Dia orang India yang paling banyak dicari di Google.

And we got her to write us a collection of sexy short stories

Dan kami menulis untuk mengumpulkan cerita pendek seksi

that we published every night for a week.

yang kami terbitkan setiap malam selama seminggu.

And it was a sensation.

Dan itu adalah sensasi.

I mean, no one could believe that we'd asked Sunny Leone to write.

Maksudku, tidak ada yang percaya bahwa kami meminta Sunny untuk menulis.

But she did,

Tapi dia melakukannya,

and she proved everyone wrong,

dan dia membuktikan semua orang salah,

and she found this immense readership.

dan dia menemukan pembaca yang luar biasa ini.

And just as we've redefined what a book is and how a reader behaves,

Dan seperti yang telah kami jelaskan buku itu dan bagaimana perilaku pembaca,

we're rethinking who an author is.

kami memikirkan kembali siapa penulisnya.

In our amateur writing platform,

Dalam platform penulis amatir kami

we have writers that range from teenagers to housewives.

penulis kami beragam dari remaja hingga ibu rumah tangga.

And they're writing all kinds of things.

Dan mereka menulis segala macam hal.

It starts as small as a poem, an essay, a single short story ...

Dimulai dari puisi kecil, sebuah esai, satu cerita pendek ...

Fifty percent of them are returning to the app to write again.

Lima puluh persen dari mereka kembali ke aplikasi untuk menulis lagi.

Take someone like Neeraj.

Bawa seseorang seperti Neeraj.

He's a middle-aged executive, wife, two kids, a good job.

Dia seorang eksekutif paruh baya, istri, dua anak, pekerjaan yang bagus.

And Neeraj loves to read.

Dan Neeraj suka membaca.

But every time Neeraj read a book that he loved,

Tetapi setiap kali Neeraj membaca buku yang dia sukai,

he was also filled with regret.

dia juga dipenuhi dengan penyesalan.

He wondered to himself if he could write, too.

Dia bertanya pada dirinya jika dia bisa menulis juga.

He was convinced he had stories in his mind.

Dia yakin dia punya cerita di benaknya.

But time and real life had happened, and he couldn't really manage it.

Tetapi waktu dan kehidupan telah terjadi, dan dia tidak bisa mengaturnya.

And then he heard about the Juggernaut writer's platform.

Dan kemudian dia mendengar tentang platform penulis Juggernaut.

And what he loved about it was that he felt this was a place

Dan apa yang dia sukai dari itu adalah bahwa dia merasa ini adalah tempat

where he could stand head and shoulders, equally,

di mana dia bisa berdiri kepala dan bahu, sama-sama,

with the very writers that he most admired.

dengan para penulis yang ia kagumi.

And so he began to write.

Maka dia mulai menulis.

And he snatched a minute here, an hour there,

Dan dia menyambar satu menit di sini, satu jam di sana,

in between flights in airports,

di antara penerbangan di bandara,

late at night, when he had a little bit of time on his hands.

ketika larut malam, dia melakukan sedikit waktu dengan tangan.

And he wrote this extraordinary story for us.

Dan dia menulis kisah yang luar biasa bagi kita.

He wrote a story about a family of assassins

Dia menulis sebuah cerita tentang keluarga pembunuh

who lived in the winding lanes of Old Delhi.

yang tinggal di belitan jalur Old Delhi.

We loved it, it was so fresh and original.

Kami menyukainya, itu sangat baru dan asli.

And before Neeraj knew it, he'd not only scored a film deal

Dan sebelum Neeraj menyadarinya, dia tidak hanya mencetak kesepakatan film

but also a second contract to write another story.

tetapi juga kedua kontrak untuk menulis cerita lain.

Neeraj's story is one of the most read stories on our app.

Kisah Neeraj adalah salah satu yang banyak dibaca di aplikasi kami.

My journey is very, very young.

Perjalanan saya masih sangat muda.

We're a two-year-old company, and we have a long way to go.

Kami adalah perusahaan berusia dua tahun, yang masih memiliki jalan panjang.

But we already, and we will by the end of this year,

Tapi kami siap, dan kami akan melakukannya di akhir tahun ini,

have about half a million stories, many priced at under a dollar.

memiliki sekitar setengah juta cerita, yang harganya di bawah satu dolar.

Most of our readers love reading

Sebagian besar pembaca kami suka membaca

and trying out authors they've never, ever heard of before.

dan mencoba penulis mereka belum pernah dengar sebelumnya

Thirty percent of our home page reads

Tiga puluh persen dari pembacaan halaman beranda

comes out of the writing that comes from our writer's platform.

berasal dari tulisan di platform penulis kami

By being everywhere,

Yang berada di mana-mana,

by being accessible and relevant,

dengan mudah diakses dan relevan,

I hope to make reading a daily habit,

Saya berharap membaca sebagai kebiasaan sehari-hari,

as easy and effortless as checking your email,

yang mudah dan tanpa usaha seperti memeriksa email Anda,

as booking a ticket online

seperti pemesanan tiket online

or ordering your groceries.

atau memesan belanjaan Anda.

And as for me,

Dan bagi saya,

I've discovered that as I entered the six-inch world of the smartphone,

Saya telah menemukan itu ketika saya masuk ke dunia enam inci dari smartphone,

my own world just got very, very big.

duniaku sendiri menjadi sangat besar.

Thank you.

Terima Kasih.

(Applause)

(Tepuk Tangan)